Recall election fails to oust Flint, Michigan mayor
By
Sheila Brehm
11 November 2017
Last Tuesday’s recall mayoral election in Flint, Michigan was marked by mass abstention of voters during the city’s ongoing lead water crisis. More than 81 percent of registered voters stayed away from the polls. With 18 candidates on the ballot, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver retained her seat and will serve out the two-year balance of her term.
Weaver had the backing of the national Democratic Party, including Jesse Jackson and the corporate media. Even with that, she received only 7,709 votes, or 53 percent of the total. Longtime city council member Scott Kincaid, who was backed by local unions, including the United Auto Workers, received 32 percent of the vote.
The election was the result of a recall initiative held in the summer in which nearly 9,000 people signed petitions to oust Weaver. After challenges by election officials, Weaver and the courts, nearly 6,000 were verified, surpassing the 5,750 signatures required to get the recall on the ballot. In the end, more people signed petitions for Weaver’s recall than voted who for her.
Changes to make the recall of politicians more difficult were promoted by Republican Governor Rick Snyder and instituted by the state in 2012. Rather than a simple yes or no vote on the recall of the mayor, Tuesday’s election allowed Weaver to run against 17 other mayoral candidates. Arthur Woodson, the initiator of the recall petition, was himself a mayoral candidate and received 2.4 percent of the vote.
The final recall language on the ballot was related to Weaver’s decision to hire Rizzo, a trash hauler that was connected to a federal corruption investigation. Residents who signed the petition, however, were motivated in large part by…